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‘Friday Night SmackDown’ (3/5/21) Results And Review: Big Steel Cage Main Event Match, Title Match For ‘Fastlane’ Announced, And More

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Alan Draper
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Friday Night SmackDown

Friday Night SmackDown took place inside the WWE ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg Florida. The headline match featured Daniel Bryan taking on Jey Uso inside a Steel Cage to earn the right to face Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship at Fastlane. Bianca Belair is also scheduled to take on one half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions Shayna Baszler.

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At the start of the show, Michael Cole introduced Daniel Bryan to the ring. Daniel Bryan came out to the ring. Cole asks Daniel about his steel cage match later tonight and why did he all of a sudden turn his focus to the Universal title. Daniel said no one came up to him for the idea of the tag team match teaming with Edge. He said he understands why Edge and Roman Reigns asked him but he won’t be the old Daniel Bryan anymore. He said the only person that doesn’t want to see Edge vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania is him and he will make sure he is in the Universal title picture. He shows the recap of what happened at the Elimination Chamber. Daniel says he got beat up a lot in his career but when Edge speared Roman Reigns, never in his life has he felt like such a failure. He said he has been known to not have a lot of ambition. He talks about being a full time father beside being a full time wrestler lately. He realized that he failed himself because he put himself on the back burner. He said he realized he should be in the main event at WrestleMania because he loves this. He talks about wrestling more matches than Roman and Edge lately. He says he can be the absolute best and he will prove it by winning the steel cage match and going on to face Roman Reigns to win the Universal title at Fastlane. Roman Reigns music hit. Roman, Jey and Paul Heyman were in the ring as they came back from commercial. Roman says the way Daniel is talking is confusing. He calls Daniel the little guy and waits on the opportunity. He says he is ambitious because when he wants something he takes it. He says Daniel doesn’t love this, he needs it. Roman says he loves the business, he doesn’t need it. He claims everyone in WWE needs him including Daniel. He says Daniel will realize that and acknowledge him. Jey tells Daniel that he needs to go through him first and this will be as close to the Universal title as he is going to get. Jey went for a cheap shot but Daniel tossed him down and threw him out of the ring.

The Street Profits were in the ring for their tag match. Sami Zayn came out saying him and Corbin will prove that last week was a fluke. Corbin came out saying that they are not friends and not tag partners. Corbin says he wants a singles match against one of them. The Street Profits say they got no problem. Sami is not happy about it.

King Corbin Defeated Montez Ford

Sami tells Corbin that he helped him now he wants Corbin to help him. Angelo Dawkins knocked him off the apron as he climbed up it. Corbin left Sami, leaving him on his own.

Angelo Dawkins Defeated Sami Zayn

Sami didn’t recognize one of the camera people and was beating him up. He accused him of being with WWE.

Carmella confronted Reginald accusing her of being a snake and trying to be with Sasha Banks. Reginald was trying to say that he is not but Carmella knocked the tray of champagne out of his hands and fired him. Carmella walks away while Reginald is soaked in champagne.

Dominick Mysterio Defeated Chad Gable

Rey Mysterio attacked Otis and landed a senton off the apron onto him by the announce table.

Kayla Braxton interviewed Seth Rollins about Cesaro’s attack last week. He says Cesaro is afraid of the vision because of how powerful it is. He said Cesaro humiliated him and he’ll never forget it. Murphy came up to Seth and asked if he could help with the Cesaro situation. Seth tells him to get out of his sight and Murphy walks away.

Bianca Belair Defeated Shayna Baszler

Reginald checked on Sasha Banks outside. Bianca tells Sasha that it’s her fault that Reginald is out here. Sasha slaps Reginald and tells him to stay out of her business.

Jey Uso is preparing for his match backstage. Roman lets him know what’s at stake. He reminds Jey that if he loses he will embarrass the family. Jey says he’s got this.

Cesaro Defeated Murphy

Reginald went up to Sasha’s locker room and knocked. He tried to explain to her but she yelled no. She slammed the door on him. Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax confronted him. Shayna intimidated him but Nia says he is kind of cute.

Apollo Crews came out with Nigerian militia. He says this is the real Apollo Crews. He talks about how he is protecting his family heritage. He said people never accepted him for who he was and mocked him. He talks about going back to his roots and how Big E tried to disrespect him. He heard his ancestors tell him to claim his birthright and that’s what he did. He said he is happy that Big E is coming back next week because he wants a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship.

Natayla and Tamina complain to Adam Pearce backstage about why they are not in the tag team title match at Fastlane. Adam says he’s sorry but that’s the match that was made.

Kayla Braxton interviewed Jey Uso about the match and he is hyped for the match. Daniel Bryan attacked Uso from behind and walked away.

Bayley has her Ding Dong Hello segment backstage reading her complimentary tweets. She reads one but then gets angry and leaves through the door.

Corey Graves was in the steel cage explaining the rules.

Daniel Bryan Defeated Jey Uso Inside The Steel Cage To Earn The Right To Face Roman Reigns For The Universal Championship At Fastlane

The show ended as Daniel Bryan celebrated his victory and an angry Roman Reigns looked on.

Overall Review: Another solid show but there were some parts that was either filler or just didn’t make sense. The opening segment was good except the part where Michael Cole asked Daniel Bryan why he went for the Universal title instead of a tag match at Fastlane. That’s a stupid question. Why would you not want to go after the Universal title and try to main event WrestleMania? The whole thing with Cesaro/Seth Rollins and Murphy was confusing and makes us wonder if WWE has short term memory. Why would Murphy ask to go back with Seth Rollins after Murphy betrayed him and started a love storyline with Rey Mysterio’s daughter Aalyah? What happened with Aalyah and him? Murphy had the match with Cesaro which wasn’t a bad match but everything that came about out of it was just confusing with Murphy trying to get back with Rollins. The whole Reginald storyline I think is entertaining and we’ll see how far they take this. I’m just hoping it’s not a way for Carmella to be added to the title match with Sasha and Bianca at WrestleMania. Let it just be Sasha and Bianca. Apollo Crews’ promo I thought was one of the best parts of the show. At least they are giving him a unique character after all these years on the main roster without any kind of substance to him. Now he’s got something going and I can’t wait what happens when Big E returns on the next show. The steel cage match was great. Daniel winning was the way to go so we get the title match out of the way and get to Edge for WrestleMania against Roman.

Grade: 6/10

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Alan Draper

Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.
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Alan Draper

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Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.
View All Posts By Alan Draper
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